We can feed the world: Is a food crisis imminent? In his latest "Policy Pennings" column, Daryll E. Ray, director of the University of Tennessee’s Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, says no, for two reasons. First, the world has plenty of fallow farmland — in Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia, for example (although this is being snapped up by rich countries) — and developed nations have the potential to increase their output through small-scale agriculture. Second, simple techniques to increase yield already exist, like the use of greenhouses, hydroponics, and higher agricultural intensity. The biggest problems ahead, Ray argues, are agricultural overproduction that can bankrupt farmers, and the economic and political inequalities that keep millions hungry. (Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, via Massa Organics Twitter feed)